Jan 4, 2011

#BDS: Israeli food company Strauss defends supporting IDF

The chairwoman of an Israeli food and beverages company slammed a campaign by students at Princeton University and Chicago's DePaul University to boycott a popular brand of hummus, the Sabra label, co-owned with PepsiCo, as “against all the good things” her company does.

Students sympathetic to the Palestinian cause in Princeton carried out a vote on the popular hummus and the results showed that Sabra's abuses were "tenuous" at most, according to a report recently published by Forbes magazine.

The story was picked up by international media in furious op-ed pieces against the Sabra label and a Facebook page ("Boycott Sabra Hummus") was created to further push for a boycott of the product.

The student campaign against the hummus came after Strauss Group, Israel’s second largest food and beverages company, posted a statement on its website saying that it commits funds "for welfare, cultural and educational activities" to officers in the Israeli Army’s Golani Brigade, which has fought in every major war since the Jewish state was created in 1948, according to Forbes.

Strauss Group’s 50-year-old chairwoman, Ofra Strauss, who is a third-generation member of the family business, is a proud supporter of the Israeli forces.

"For us, Israeli soldiers are not army; Israeli soldiers are our kids," Strauss told Forbes in an interview. "When children of this country are in need, we will be there."